Molded confectionery products are prepared by depositing a fluid confectionery mass into a preformed mold, allowing the fluid confectionery mass to solidify or gel therein and removing the solidified or gelled confectionery product from the mold. Preformed depressions in a bed of dry powdered starch are the most commonly used method. Within recent years, permanent molds have become popular with a few high volume manufacturers. This technique is often referred to as "starchless molding". Starchless molding relies upon a preformed solid mold. The starchless molds are usually constructed in a tray form, each of which may contain a hundred or more depressions with the trays being operatively connected with one another to form a continuous belt or conveyor. In a continuous starchless molding operation for soft confections, each mold is typically coated with a special release agent, the fluid confectionery recipe ingredients are then cast or deposited into the starchless mold (depositing), solidified therein (tempering), mechanically ejected therefrom (demolding), cleaned and coated with fresh release agent for recycling. In demolding, the mechanical ejection may be accomplished by mechanical fingers which force the gelled composition from a deformed flexible mold (e.g., molds constructed of synthetic or natural rubber molds) or by air expulsion from a rigid mold.
Several publications have described suitable equipment and processing conditions for the mass production confectionery products by starchless molding (e.g., see "Revolutionary Starchless Molder", Candy Industry, Vol. 132, No. 8, April 15, 1969, pages 10-11, 72 and 85; British Patent Specification No. 1,005,674 by Baker-Perkins Ltd.; "Continuous Starchless Cream Center Molding" The Manufacturing Confectioner for April 1969, page 65; "American Operation of `Modified` Starchless Moulding System", Confectionary Production, January 1974, pages 14-16 and 34; "Varieties of Moulding Operations are Flexible, Automatic, Economical" Candy and Snack Industry, Vol. 138, No. 7, pages 28, 31 and 73, June 1973; "Gears Continuous Cooking-Cooling to Product Needs", Food Engineering, pages 83-86, November 1969; "Innovates Starchless Molding of Cream Centers", Food Engineering, Vol. 45, pages 81-84, August 1973).
Incomplete and non-uniform release of the solidified confectionery product from the mold are particularly troublesome problems since sugar solutions tend to stick to any mold surface. Numerous proposals have been made to improve upon the release of the solidified confectionery product from the mold. In an attempt to overcome these problems, polytetrafluoroethylene is conventionally used as a permanent mold coating. For soft confections, a temporary release agent coating (e.g., acetylated monoglyceride) is necessarily applied before each deposition of fluid confection into the mold.
To further facilitate demolding, each tray is typically equipped with mechanical means to individually pivot the tray at a 45.degree. angle during demolding. Each impression or mold within the tray also contains port holes for air injection. In conventional operations, the fluid recipe is automatically deposited into each mold, the molds are then moved through a tempering tunnel to solidify or gel the confection and ejected by applying pressure to the bottom of the flexible mold to force the confection out of the mold or by compressed air which passes through tiny holes in the bottom of each of the molds while they are tilted at an inverted angle. Critical processing factors for effective air demolding include the size and configuration of the holes within the base of the mold impression, the type of release agent and how it is applied, the mold design and construction, air pressure, cooling time and conditions, etc. In a continuous operation, each mold is cleaned so that it is free from solidified confectionery product and microbial contamination before recoating with fresh release agent and recycling.
A wide variety of molded confectionaries may be formulated with high-amylose starches. Illustrative high-amylose-containing confectionery product recipes include short, relatively rigid, resilient textured confections, such as gum confections or starch jellies (e.g., gum drops, gum slices such as lemon and orange slices, gum centered candies and the like as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,218,177 and 3,446,628 by Robinson et al.), confections of a tractile, long, inelastic, cream-like texture (e.g., cream fondants, marshmallow cream centers, cast caramel centers, etc., such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,687,690 by Carl O. Moore), aerated confections having the textural and eating quality of grained aerated confections (e.g., nougat and grained marshmallow confections, etc. as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,120,987 by Carl O. Moore) and other confectionery products which rely upon high-amylose starch to impart a structural support to the molded confectionery product. For molded confectionery products the high-amylose-containing recipes have not been successfully utilized in starchless molding because they cannot be effectively removed by mechanical or air pressure.
The inventor desired to simplify demolding without requiring special release agents in starchless confectionery molding. An effective means for releasing gelled confections from the molds without requiring either permanent (e.g., polytetrafluoroethylene) or temporary mold coatings would significantly improve upon demolding efficacy. A demolding system which would effectively function as a self-lubricating, and self-dissipating release agent while cleaning the mold from debris and pasteurizing or sterilizing the mold against microbial contamination would represent a significant demolding improvement.